But then I thought, “Wait a minute. I don’t have to engage in unethical practices to be a good advertiser.” If your main purpose as an advertiser is to swindle people into giving you money, then you would be better off pick-pocketing people off the streets. This misconception of Advertising must be the main reason why it would show up on the top 10 unethical careers list to begin with.
The way I look at it, advertisements are just a tangible way of getting the word out about a product, service or event. How else would you know about certain products without advertising? I mean, unless you’re a movie guru, how else are you to know that Harry Potter 7 (the first installment) is coming out this November without seeing a movie poster or trailer (or the fact that I just told you)?
Besides, don’t we all, in a sense, advertise ourselves every day? We show up to job interviews dressed to impress (or at least we should), with a killer resume in hand and a confident, yet professional attitude.
Of course I am aware that false and deceitful advertising exists, everybody should. So why did I continue to pursue this career path? It’s simple, I enjoy graphic design. Advertising seems to be the best way for me to demonstrate artistry and creativity, and still get paid. I’m just not good enough at drawing and painting to make money off of it.
It all started my senior year in high school when I took a Desktop Publishing class. I learned how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and In-Design. I knew I wanted to find a way to do graphic design for a living, so I chose to study advertising.
The best part is, I don’t have to move to New York or California to have a successful career in Advertising. There are plenty of ad agencies here in Albuquerque: RJC, 3 Advertising, Esparza, to name a few. And, to my advantage, the University of New Mexico has an excellent Advertising program.
This semester, our client for the Campaigns class is ARCA, or more specifically, their Administrative and Training services (such as payroll, accounting and background checks). Our class is broken up into 6 groups, or agencies, and our job is to help ARCA find a way to advertise these services to other businesses.
As a nonprofit organization, ARCA’s main services help people with developmental disabilities to be “in and of the community.” This includes helping these individuals find jobs. As a nonprofit organization, it is important for ARCA to gain revenue from these “for-profit” services because they are aspiring to become a self-sufficient organization to fund their main services.
This year, UNM is offering a yearlong Advertising Competition class. This class started in fall 2009, and continues throughout the spring. This class is broken up into several groups, including the media planning team and the pitch team. Their client is State Farm, and their goal is to pitch a campaign to boost their market share in the 18-25 age demographic.
On April 24th, the pitch team for the Competition class will be presenting at Hotel Albuquerque. They will be competing against 11 different schools including the Art Center Design College and BYU.
Without advertising, ARCA, State Farm and many other companies would have a difficult time spreading the word about the product and services they have to offer.
Sure, advertising can get annoying, especially when it’s thrown in your face every minute of every day. But, I’m sure every one of you can think of good ad as easily as you can think of an annoying one. I mean, who can’t describe at least one Geico commercial?
Besides, a lot of people wouldn’t even know about the existence of this blog if I hadn’t created and handed out this flyer. =)
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